Annual Report Table of Contents
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Assessment For the year we completed 31 assessment projects that were included on our annual master plan. Most of our assessment efforts of the year were focused on the decision making process relating to the new SRC. Those decisions impacted every program area and will be critical pieces in the smooth transition to the new center. As such, many of our projects this year were research and discussion based and not traditional assessment tools with a lot of statistical results to show in spreadsheets etc. This does not mean that a significant amount of assessment was not performed, it was just done in a different manner than maybe we have done before. A tremendous amount of assessment was done during the year.
Given our intentional relationship goals with the Cardinal Covenant program, we need to know exactly which ones of our student staff are in that program. This could make a significant difference in our summer operations as those students will receive priority in receiving summer CWS awards. With the opening of the new SRC and the student wage budget associated with the center, our number of Cardinal Covenant students was down. We had only 6 students for a total of close to $36,000 worth of work study award. That was down from 23 Covenant students last year. This decrease was compounded by our giving up the Game Room as many of our Covenant students worked in that facility. Many Covenant students are looking for a place where they can get some homework/studying done while on the job and the Game Room was one of the only places on campus where they could do that. Not many of our existing Covenant students elected to come to the new SRC with us because of that.
The UofL Today goes to faculty and staff only so it is only applicable to programs that are aimed at that audience. We did promote the group fitness classes, dependent ID program and Faculty/Staff golf outing through the UofL Today. Group fitness and the dependent ID program were done two times each semester. We were active on UofL Today, promoting all programs that were applicable to faculty and staff. Most of those centered around the SRC with either membership or group fitness promotions. We also promoted the Faculty/Staff golf outing and other events through the medium.
We want to be able to capture different pieces of information from our current ID card system. Being able to again capture information on distinct users would be the most beneficial. Ideally, we would like to be able to collect other information such as on/off campus, year in school, gender, ethnicity and more. We have had initial meetings with the Card Office staff and will continue that relationship. We have been capturing weekly user statistics and have also been capturing distinct user and various time period related information. We continue to advance in the ways we can use this piece of technology.
We will keep a log of changes to the LED board similar to the one we keep for all web page updates. This will allow us to document to potential advertisers the activity on the board will help to show the useful nature of messages delivered over the board. Our LED boards were active until the transition to the SRC. All roster due-dates and hours of operations, with changes, were promoted on the boards. There are no LED boards in the new SRC.
We are now utilizing Google Analytics to track hits, page visits, and duration of visits. A pageview is a record of the individual pages someone visited while in our total site. Those records will help us shape the look, feel and function of our page in the future. David Horrar has arranged for a new way to gather department web site statistics. Right now the information is not available but will be very soon.
We changed our machines to update automatically, which means we no longer maintain a record of the updates. Previously, when updates were released John and David R. would manually come around to each machine in the office to complete the updates. Having them done automatically is safer for the department as it protects the machines during the time that John and David would have been coming around to perform the updates. The important thing is that we did not lose a machine to a virus or preventable problem during the year. The installation of machines for the new SRC required tens of thousands of updates as each machine had to be brought to current standards from scratch. Every machine was completed and ready for opening. All machines have been kept current since installation at the SRC and HSC.
This was also part of last year’s plan but will continue to be included until Windows 7 becomes the prevalent operating system. When that happens, we may be looking at a mass replacement of machines as many of ours do not support sufficient memory to allow the OS to function properly. Windows 7 may become a required operating system in the near future. Microsoft supports the latest two versions of their operating systems and the XP that we are currently using may not be supported very much longer. Windows is in the test period for Windows 8. When Windows 8 is released, support for XP will probably go away. We will address the situation by including new machines for all locations in all facilities with the implementation of the new software platform that will administer most functions of the department. We have migrated to Windows 7 and all department machines are now running the platform. That is important not only from a support standpoint but also from a virus protection standpoint.
We plan to implement the use of the CSI comprehensive software platform before the opening of the new SRC. The platform will perform many duties that we still rely on paper and pencil for and will greatly enhance our operation. The implementation of CSI will represent a significant amount of work and a significant learning curve for everyone in our department. Aside from the actual construction of the new SRC, this will probably represent the single most significant change in our department for many years. The system will require a lot of work and cooperation from IT to implement. Being able to use this for a period of months prior to the opening of the new SRC will be a tremendous help to us making that transition. CSI has been launched and we are learning more and more about its capabilities. For the most part it has been a successful launch. We have had a few issues with response time, uploads, and user education but overall it has been a tremendous improvement to our operations.
We know we want to utilize a number of digital monitors throughout the new SRC to promote program areas. There are 3 major players in the digital monitor system market. We are currently using Visix but as of now, they do not communicate with other systems to populate room schedule monitors. We are researching Reach and Four Winds to select a system for the new facility. We are utilizing the REACH system on 16 monitors throughout the SRC. We are investigating launching the system for the HSC Fitness Center as well. The system has worked well and has greatly enhanced our digital marketing.
We want to improve the way we document our facility inspections. Currently we do an in-depth inspection every month and those forms are turned into John Smith for documentation. By purchasing a number of iPads, we will be able to develop a daily inspection spread sheet that our managers can use when walking through the centers at opening. Those forms can then be directly uploaded to our Google Docs or Cloud accounts. This will improve our documentation and frequency of inspections. We have had an IT person come in and write a number of programs for our iPads. We are having some problems with wifi coverage that keeps us from using them to the level that we would like but they are being used where and how possible.
We have become aware that some of the campus tours are giving out inaccurate information. Some of this is about our current operation and some is regarding the new SRC. We have reached out to the department that puts on the tours and offered to provide them with an updated script or review their current script to make sure it is accurate. Providing accurate information about the new SRC is critical and we cannot have official UofL functions such as campus tours giving out anything but accurate information. We provided scripts for the tour groups and offered to meet with them but we still hear inaccurate information when we listen-in on the tours. We try not to correct the tour person in front of the group but do try to follow up with them when we hear something that is not correct.
We anticipate our group fitness classes will change dramatically with the opening of the new SRC. While they are now largely faculty/staff populated, that will probably change to a more student-oriented base of participants when the fee for the classes is no longer required. The change to a more student-based clientele will also result in the need for not only more but different styles of instructors. We will need to assess the trends in group fitness to determine what staff we will need for the new facility. Classes like zumba and yoga are no doubt going to gain in popularity and we will need to be prepared to offer what is going to be popular. Debby has analyzed and hired appropriate staff for group fitness classes.
With the anticipated growth in the fitness program will come the need for additional staff. We will add one graduate assistant in the area. Instead of a graduate assistant, we have utilized Department Assistants in various roles.
We want to continue the process of evaluating our officials both for our benefit and theirs. It will help us with training and thus improve the level of officiating for the participants as well as help individual officials improve to the point where they may be able to get some of the community work we have access to. Justin Peterson and Tad Porter evaluated all officials and utilized the ratings in making post season assignments. Undergraduate supervisors also had roles in performing evaluations. Officials were observed and met with during games taking place in the regular season.
Three years ago we began keeping agendas from all council and IM Staff meetings. These are helpful in the event of a problem after the meeting, we can go back to our agenda and document that the topic was covered. It also helps us to document our efforts at building community and our continued efforts at improving sportsmanship. We will continue to formalize our Council agendas and document all topics covered. We also want to continue to include one trait or fundamental and powerful concept from the I2a Critical Thinking initiative. All agendas are documented and kept by the Justin and Tad.
We have been conducting a written team sport satisfaction tool for a number of years. Results tend to be pretty close to the same from year to year. We usually get some comments on a few of the surveys but have no way to follow up with people on them. Three years ago we changed to a focus group type of setting. At the conclusion of every team sport we will have an open forum discussion that all teams will be invited to attend. A member of the staff not directly associated with the intramural program will serve as the moderator for the meeting so the attendees will feel more open to discuss things that are important to them. We will have a prepared list of talking points. This will allow for a more inclusive setting and promote dialogue rather than limited written responses. We conducted a Town Hall meeting at the completion of all team sports. There was generally little discussion as people were more interested in getting finished and being able to leave. We encouraged them to consider the items we tried to cover for the end of the year Council Meeting, which was more productive. The Town Hall meeting is still a good concept but given the lack of participation we had this year, we probably should look to see if there is a modification we can do to encourage more participation.
In addition to interviewing for prospective new UGA staff members, we want to begin having a more formal exit interview or year-end evaluation with our UGA staff. These will include not only individual reviews but seek their input into program changes or improvements that can be made, changes in protocol, or just to get their input into the program in general. John and Justin conducted exit interviews with the UGA staff last year. The outgoing UGAs were particularly interested to give input into the selection of future UGAs.
We know we are going to move to an online platform for the intramural phase of our program. We are currently investigating two platforms. Pending which one we end up choosing will determine the implementation date. IT’s ability to create the single sign on required will also impact the implementation date. We selected and launched IM Leagues for the Greek system last year as our beta group and then this year for the entire program. The intramural staff held several training sessions for all interested groups early in the fall and then assisted any group that needed help with getting their team registered to make sure we did not miss any team that wanted to participate. The system is working well now and provides a great deal of convenience and service to our participants.
With the new SRC will come a new fee structure for alumni, dependent ID holders, summer validations, sport club federation members, and possibly even faculty and staff. We will need to research and prepare the most appropriate schedule for our campus and program. We researched, developed, recommended and had a fee structure approved by the University. All fees are now active and being utilized.
Last year we made 135 phone calls to participants who had been injured in our program. Every person who had an injury report filled out received at least one call checking on their condition and offering the department’s assistance. The calls are very good tools for us. They show concern and intent to follow up with our participants. I have talked to many parents when making the calls and the good will we receive from the calls is very significant. From a legal standpoint they are important but more importantly from a moral standpoint they are critical to our department and should be continued with no question.
In the new SRC we will have a dedicated medical response room. We will need to select equipment and medical supplies for the room. Comparisons with other university recreational sports departments and acceptance of recommendations for University of Louisville athletic training staff will be included. All equipment has been selected and is being utilized. New equipment includes new AEDs, a response sideline chair, exam table, hi-neck sink, and the room itself. All have made noticeable changes in the level of our ability to respond to various injuries/illnesses.
Per our prescription from the physician that oversees our AED program, all machines must be covered by a warranty that includes inspection by an outside agency. That is in place. When the machines are inspected we receive a written documentation stating the machines are either in compliance with required standards or need a repair done. If a repair is needed, a certificate of compliance is provided when the repair is concluded. All of our AEDs are new and not required to be inspected yet.
We keep a spreadsheet on every certification issued from our department training classes through the American Red Cross. We also keep the certification sheets turned into the Red Cross for documentation as well. We are able to provide information on any staff member’s certification at any time. This also helps us track renewal times for every certification. All staff certifications along with expiration dates are maintained and available from John Smith.
With this tool we want to develop a database so that we can track all reported injuries. We then will be able to compare injury rates between indoor and outdoor activities, structured program to informal program. We will also categorize the severity of all injuries and compare statistics between sports and related activities. This may have implications in our future training and certification plans. With the higher total of injuries we encountered last year, came an increase in head/concussion type of scenarios to deal with. The 14% total is double last year’s total for the same injury. 135 total reported injuries 50% bone and joint injuries 34% blood injuries 14% head/concussion injuries 2% random illness situations
Injury response is a topic at all town hall team sports meetings. There were no responses from anyone reporting poor response to an injury situation. Most people had compliments to the way our staff responded. This has already been a regular talking point in all of our town hall meetings but should be continued. Injury response was a topic at each Town Hall meeting. There was no negative feedback at any meeting. Many people were complimentary of our response to their team’s injuries.
Our current system of keeping our response bags properly equipped needs revision. Our procedure now is for people to notify John if they use supplies in the bags so they can be replenished. This doesn’t happen on a regular basis and invariably bags become depleted of supplies or run too close to depleted. We will begin a routine inventory of bags by John to insure they are properly equipped. Bags were inventoried and stocked at two points during the year. Regular re-stocking takes place as needed.
Every month a detailed inspection is completed on every facility including all equipment in that facility. The inspection forms are turned into the safety coordinator and documented there. This is a critical component of our overall risk management plan. Monthly facility inspections are completed and turned into John Smith for documentation. Inspection forms include all weight and cardiovascular pieces of equipment as well as building and general equipment.
Our clubs practice and play in various locations. We need to review those locations to make sure our clubs have appropriate mechanisms in place in case of an emergency medical situation. Those that cannot document the availability of a certified first responder with CPR and First Aid certifications at the various facilities used, should be required to send club members to become certified through our office or through existing classes with the American Heart Association. This should be completed by the sport club coordinator and a written report filed with the safety/risk management coordinator upon each visit. David Rice visited each club and confirmed the safety of the facility and response situation.
With clubs practicing at different venues, we want to make sure those that are in facilities other than ours (where we have responders and equipment available) have access to basic first aid supplies. We will supply those clubs with a first aid bag and stock it whenever they indicate that it is needed. We supplied first aid bags to all clubs who requested them.
The SRC is going to represent a tremendous growth opportunity for the sport club program. Much advanced planning is needed in areas such as Sport Club Federation ID policies, storage and equipment use, schedules and practice arrangements and much more. The Sport Club Coordinator must work closely with the Assistant Director of Facilities to insure these types of details, and any others that surface, are adequately addressed. All clubs are scheduled and utilizing the new center when it is appropriate for their clubs’ specific function. David Rice, David Hatfield and Debby Woodall worked closely together to insure schedules did not overlap and make the best use of the SRC.
We are finishing up our fourth year into a project that no other intramural department in the nation has done before. We are partnering with Nelligan Sports Marketing to generate income for our department through the selling of advertising and other promotional programs. We continue to review and explore new ways of furthering our relationship with the firm. Nelligan has been aggressive in pursuing potential leads for us and several promising relationships appear to be close. John Smith meets with Lisa Turner at least monthly to insure compliance and discuss future sponsorship opportunities. |